The Interactive Maps of the Week

Access to Jobs was probably the most talked about map of the last week. This very clever Leaflet map allows you to view the number of jobs you can travel to in the New York Metropolitan Region, within a given travel time. It is an isochrone map which reveals the distance you can travel in a set time and also reveals the underlying employment patterns within that travel area.

Drop a pin anywhere within the New York Metropolitan Region, select your mode of travel and set your maximum travel time and you can view a visualization of the number of jobs within your given travel time. Individual building footprints on the map are even shaded to show you the type of jobs available within your set commute time.

Using the options in the map sidebar you can refine the category of jobs shown on the map to find the total number of jobs available within your commuting zone for any industry or combination of job types. The map also allows you to view the jobs displayed by education level (degree, high school, less than high school and some college).


Travel time was also the subject of another very nice map released this week. Isocope provides a beautiful mapped visualization of how far you can travel by car in a chosen time from any location in the world. You can even select the day and time to view an isochrone view of your time restricted travel extent.

The map uses the Isoline feature from the Nokia Here Map API to calculate the area you can travel, in a given time. You can view another example of the Nokia isoline calculator in this demo map from Nokia.

Nokia also provide another neat demo map which uses the resulting isochrone polygon from a travel time search as the bounding box for a places search. The Isoline Bounding Box Search map is a nice demonstration of how you could use Nokia's isoline calculator to refine searches on a map, for example you could create a map that allows users to search for cafes within a ten minute walk of their current location.


Maps don't always have to break new ground or provide incredible visualizations of data to inspire. Sometimes the simplest maps can be the most effective. This is true of this crowd-sourced map of Iceland, which works thanks to both the beauty of Iceland and some wonderful embedded photography.

Inspired by Iceland has created a Google Map that allows anyone to map and share their favorite locations in the country. The Inspired by Iceland Secrets Map is a map of some of Iceland's most beautiful but less known locations.

From the cotton fields near the mountains of Landmannalaugar to the spectacular river gorge at Fjaðrárgljúfur, the Secrets Map is full of beautiful locations to visit in Iceland. Each submitted secret includes a description and a photo or video of the location.